In the telecommunications industry telephone distribution cable is introduced to individual telephone sites such as residences, mainly through use of a splice of pairs of tip and ring signal wires of the cable to tip and ring wires of a respective service cable at a junction located outside the house. The junction is housed within a protective enclosure which is mounted usually to an outside wall of the house. One example of such an enclosure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,388 in which one or two-terminal modules are mounted each receiving either the tip or ring conductors of both the distribution cable and a selected service cable; the enclosure is adapted for either pole or wall mounting and includes a box section and a lid pivotable to a stable open position permitting access to the terminal modules and closable to a closed position and lockable thereat, with the opposing side walls being integral with the lid and the front and back walls being integral with the box section all adapted to seal the enclosure upon lid closing.
A variety of enclosures are known, mountable to poles or walls, within which are mounted one or more terminal blocks used to interconnect tip and ring wires of distribution cable and a plurality of service cables, including a rugged enclosure such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,454. Other such enclosures are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/032,890 filed Mar. 18, 1993 and assigned to the assignee hereof; the enclosures similarly contain terminal blocks mountable therein each interconnecting conductors of a distribution cable and an array of service wires, or two arrays of service wires, and which are easily openable to stable positions permitting access thereinto.
One type of terminal block for interconnecting a pair of wires is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,077. A tubular dielectric housing has a center post therein defining an annular cavity. A stationary tubular terminal is affixed within the cavity adjacent the center post; a rotatable tubular terminal is disposed within the cavity concentrically around the stationary terminal and in electrical engagement therewith at all times; and a tubular actuator is also mounted to the housing and is adapted to be rotated between actuated and unactuated positions to rotate the rotatable terminal. A pair of wire-receiving passageways of the assembly are defined at a termination site along apertures through the housing wall, through apertures of both terminals and the actuator, and at least into a center post aperture, all aligned in an unactuated state for a wire end to be inserted into one or both of the passageways. Upon rotation of the rotatable terminal by the actuator, slot walls of the terminal pierce the wire insulation of the one or two wires and engage the wire's conductor. The stationary terminal includes a contact section extending outwardly from the housing including insulation displacement slots for a wire to be inserted thereinto and terminated, the wire being one of a plurality of a multiconductor stub cable length which is secured to the enclosure containing a plurality of the terminal blocks, thus defining a cable harness. The two terminal members thus interconnect an appropriate conductor of the stub cable to a wire inserted into a termination site of the terminal block. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,302 is disclosed a modular terminal block containing two such rotatable terminal arrangements in cylindrical housing sections or silos as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,077.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,646 discloses a protector module for a telephone line junction box, wherein each module includes an array of protectors contained in respective cavities of a housing, and a ground plate to which ground electrodes of the protectors are commoned; the ground plate includes a ground strap along the bottom of the module to extend to a ground post of the enclosure within which the module is mounted, which in turn is connected to system ground. A pair of the protectors is connected in-line along the tip and ring circuits respectively of a telephone service line by means of a contact member, with the circuits being electrically connected to respective circuits of a distribution cable elsewhere in the enclosure.
Another protector module is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,577. The disclosure provides a two-terminal single module for crossconnecting or splicing the tip and ring lines of a service line, where the module also contains protector elements connected in-line with the respective terminals. The module also includes a ground strap to which the protectors are connected, the ground strap including a contact section exposed along the module bottom to engage an enclosure ground upon mounting of the module in an enclosure similar to the enclosure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,388.
It is desired to provide an enclosure which permits mounting therein of any one of a variety of telephone line interconnection devices or crossconnection devices.
It is also desired that such an enclosure is rugged and durable and provides for environmental sealing about cables extending through the cable exits.
It is further desired that such an enclosure be at least both wall-mountable and pole-mountable.